Swindon’s Urban Area Landscape-scale Conservation Framework Presenting a framework for landscape scale conservation planning and delivery within Swindon urban centre July 2013 This document was published by the Wiltshire Wildlife Trust with funding provided by Swindon Borough Council and Wiltshire Council. The review of the Wiltshire and Swindon Biodiversity Action Plans (BAPs) was coordinated by the Wiltshire and Swindon BAP Steering Group which is made up of representatives from Wiltshire Wildlife Trust, Wiltshire County Council, Swindon Borough Council, Natural England, Link2Nature (Wiltshire & Swindon Local Nature Partnership), Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB), Wiltshire and Swindon Biological Records Centre, Cotswold Water Part Trust, Longleat Center Parcs and the North Wessex Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB). This document was produced by Melanie Wright, Wiltshire and Swindon Biodiversity Action Plan Development Officer. All maps were created using data from the Wiltshire & Swindon Biological Records Centre. All website links in this document are accessed at the user’s own risk and the Wiltshire Wildlife Trust cannot take responsibility for the content of external sites. This document has been made available to communicate the outcomes of a six month review of the Wiltshire and Swindon Biodiversity Action Plans. This document supports information available on the new Wiltshire and Swindon Local Nature Partnership (Link2Nature) website which should be consulted for further details www.link2nature.org.uk 1 Contents 1. Background ...................................................................................................................................... 3 1.1 Swindon Biodiversity Action Plan .......................................................................................................... 3 1.2 Biodiversity ............................................................................................................................................ 3 1.3 Threats to Biodiversity ........................................................................................................................... 4 1.4 Priority Areas for Conservation ............................................................................................................. 5 1.5 Swindon’s Green Infrastructure (GI) strategy ........................................................................................ 6 1.6 Work outside of the GI and SNA networks ............................................................................................ 7 2. Swindon’s Existing GI Networks ........................................................................................................ 9 River Ray Parkway ........................................................................................................................................ 9 Sevenfields ................................................................................................................................................. 11 Stratton Woods and Stanton Park ............................................................................................................. 13 Coate Water and The Lawns ...................................................................................................................... 16 Coate Water ............................................................................................................................................... 16 3. Swindon’s Planned GI Networks .............................................................................................................. 19 Wichelstowe .............................................................................................................................................. 19 Eastern Villages Development ................................................................................................................... 22 4. Delivery Projects and Conservation Opportunities in Swindon .............................................................. 24 5. Glossary ..................................................................................................................................................... 27 6. Appendix - Supporting Maps .................................................................................................................... 29 2 1. Background Swindon town lies within Swindon Borough, a unitary authority to the northeast of the county of Wiltshire. The town owes its existence to the establishment of the Great Western Railway in the 1840s and, following extensive growth and post-war development, Swindon has transformed itself from a town dominated by the railway industry into one with a prosperous economy with a mix of modern industries. Roughly 86% of the population of Swindon Borough now live within the Swindon urban area, which contrasts greatly in character with the predominantly rural districts of Wiltshire. 1.1 Swindon Biodiversity Action Plan The decision was made to produce a separate Biodiversity Action Plan (BAP) for the Swindon urban area to reflect the very different pressures experienced by habitats and species within the urban context compared to those within the wider, predominantly rural surroundings of Wiltshire and the Swindon Borough. It is important to consider the Swindon BAP alongside a number of other documents including the Swindon Core Strategy, Swindon Green Infrastructure Strategy and the Wiltshire BAP 2008 and the Cotswold Water Park BAP . In line with the methodology adopted for the landscape addition to the Wiltshire BAP, the Swindon BAP focusses on the best opportunities for protecting and enhancing priority habitats within the urban area. It looks to establish links between fragmented habitats to produce a coherent and resilient ecological network which can buffer the effects of climate change and allow the movement of species between them. This BAP attempts to adopt a more ecosystem-wide, landscape-scale approach in line with the Government’s recommendations put forward in the Natural Environment White Paper and the desired outcomes outlined in the England Biodiversity Strategy. 1.2 Biodiversity The green spaces and priority habitats within Swindon Borough have experienced many and varied pressures in recent decades, including urban development and agricultural intensification. Within the urban area there are 24 County Wildlife Sites (CWS), sites designated as being of substantive biodiversity importance (see map in Appendix, Figure 8). These cover a number of habitats including Neutral grassland (6), Broadleaved Woodland (9), Calcareous grassland (1), Fens, marsh and swamp (1), River (1), Standing open water (3), Wet woodland (2) and a mosaic of habitats (1). There are some very valuable areas of priority habitat and green spaces within and adjacent to the urban limits of the town including the historic parkland of Lydiard Park which borders the east of the urban area and beyond this, the remaining extent of the former hunting forest of Braydon Forest. The extent of the North Wessex Downs AONB extends to the southeast corner of the Swindon urban area and extensive woodland areas have been developed around the town via the Community Forests initiative, such as at Shaw Forest Park to the northeast of the town and Wroughton Wood to the south. 3 There are four Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs) within the urban limits of the town (Appendix, figure 8), primarily designated for their Earth Heritage or geological importance, being either disused quarry sites or railway cuttings. Additionally there are eight Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs) within the Swindon peri-urban area which have the potential to be impacted by future development and expansion of the Swindon urban area (Click on table to left to view details). The underlying geology of Swindon is characterised by two large bands of Kimmeridge and Oxford clays running horizontally across the town, split by a band of limestone fossilised coral beds. In the south of the town lies an area of Purbeck and Porton stone which is of particularly high geological interest being rich in fossil deposits. The River Ray, a tributary of the River Thames whose catchment encompasses the area to the north of Swindon, passes through the western suburbs of Swindon urban area and represents a primary focus of wildlife and conservation efforts within the urban limits. Lowland meadow and wetland habitats associated with the Thames tributaries of the River Ray and the River Cole to the east of the urban area represent the main priority habitats within the urban area. The historic line of the Wilts & Berks Canal runs to the south of the urban area and on to Abingdon in Oxfordshire, whilst the historic line of the North Wilts Canal forms a spur linking the Wilts & Berks to the Thames and the River Severn north of Cricklade. Some sections of the canal network have been restored under the auspices of the Canal Trusts, and are currently ‘in water’. Swindon urban area falls across two National Character Areas; the Upper Thames Clay Vales and the Midvale Ridge. These define the character of the wider landscape and group areas according to geology and both present-day and past land use rather than administrative boundaries. They provide a more meaningful basis on which to evaluate the wildlife and geological resources of an area and offer a better way of planning nature conservation action at an ecosystem or landscape scale. 1.3 Threats